Freedom without the Press

Finding Jesus, a companion to the CNN TV series, looks at six holy objects connected to Jesus, the most famous– and mysterious –man in history to see what they can tell us about his life, and his “after life”.

David Gibson and Michael McKinley designed their book to engage believers, skeptics and those in between, by looking at each object through three lenses: what is the object and its connection to Jesus? How did it get from “then” to “now”– i.e. how did a burial cloth travel thousands of miles and two thousand years from a rock tomb in Jerusalem to a marble cathedral in Turin? And what does science say about these objects today?

Readers can begin the book in any chapter they choose, and find a complete story about a holy object– a story which will lead them to other chapters, and onward, we hope, on a journey to parse the plot of the “greatest story ever told.”

“In a mix of engaging scholarship and gripping storytelling, Gibson and McKinley offer a page-turner for a wide audience.” — Kirkus Reviews

If every hockey player’s dream begins on a frozen pond, it reaches its pinnacle in a packed arena facing off against a bitter international rival. Could be the mighty Soviets. Could be the vainglorious Americans. Doesn’t matter, as long as the guys, and more recently, the women, who come from the farming villages, logging towns, and bustling cities of Canada show up to play the game the way we invented it to be played. That’s the way it’s been for a hundred years. more

This is the true story of Herbert O. Yardley, a small-town college dropout who worked his way up through the US State Department to become the nation’s most infamous codebreaker, whose work helped found the NSA—and who revealed all his secrets in a bestselling book.

America’s 1917 entry to World War I exposed the country’s lack of military intelligence. It had to catch up with the world’s major players, and fast. Herbert Yardley, who’d learned his life lessons at the poker table, knew he could apply his analytical skills to the field of cryptology. Given the chance to lead MI-8, the first unit dedicated to military intelligence, he was soon intercepting and deciphering classified diplomatic cables—and helping the Allies to victory. more

Now for the first time in history a man of faith and a man of science are teaming up to search for Jesus’ DNA. Using the latest advances in DNA technology Oxford University geneticist George Busby and biblical scholar Pastor Joe Basile are investigating the world’s most famous holy relics including the Shroud of Turin, The Sudarium of Oviedo and the newly discovered bones of Jesus’ cousin, John the Baptist. Their journey takes them to holy sites around the world from Spain and Italy to Israel and the shores of the Black Sea. By extracting and analyzing samples of each of these holy relics they hope to retrieve a sample of DNA that possibly belongs to Jesus or a member of his family. They believe that if they can find a strand of Jesus’ DNA it could help identify who among us today are descendants of Jesus and provide us with new insight into the man many consider to be the most important person in history, Jesus.

Controversial hockey star Sean Avery’s no-holds-barred memoir of high living and bad behavior in the NHL—coupled with the behind-the-scenes glitter of celebrity and media nightlife in New York and LA.

As one of the NHL’s most polarizing players, Sean Avery turned the rules of professional hockey on its head. For thirteen seasons, Avery played for some of the toughest, most storied franchises in the league, including the Detroit Red Wings, the Los Angeles Kings, and the New York Rangers, making his mark in each city as a player that was sometimes loved, often despised, but always controversial.

In Ice Capades, Avery takes his trademark candidness about the world of pro hockey and does for it what Jim Bouton’s game-changing Ball Four did for baseball. Avery goes deep inside the sport to reveal every aspect of an athlete’s life, from what they do with their money and nights off to how they stay sharp and competitive in the league. While playing the talented villain in the NHL, Avery broke far away from his on-ice character in the off-season, and Ice Capades takes the reader inside the other unexpected and unprecedented roles that Avery inhabited—Vogue intern, fashion model, advertising executive, restauranteur, gay rights advocate, and many more.

Love him or hate him, Sean Avery changed the way professional hockey is played today. Rollickingly honest and compelling throughout, Ice Capades transcends the “sports book” genre and offers a rare, unvarnished glimpse into the world of 21st century hockey through the eyes of one of its most original and memorable players.

Theresa McDermott has chased her “ideal” life as an urban-dwelling, punk(ish) singer-songwriter to the very end of its possible existence. She is broke, options have run out and she happens to have a few kids she is raising on her own since their dad split a year ago. Facing eviction and nowhere to go, Theresa packs up her children and what is left of her life and moves back to the small rural town, childhood home and parents she deliberately ran from a decade ago. Old wounds, unattainable dreams, and some “other things” are exposed as a fractured family works to become whole and a woman with a few kids learns to become a mother.

My name is Julia Amisano and I am a singer, music teacher, and the founder of Grace Music Studio NY, a music studio in Brooklyn founded upon the philosophy that everyone is a singer. I developed a method called the Three Pillars of Singing so that everyone can learn how to sing in three simple steps.

To enquire about voice lessons, piano lessons or acting lessons and to learn some of Julia’s free singing tips, please visit www.gracemusicstudiony.com

Here’s what one student has to say about Julia’s teaching:

“My name is Sharice Styles, and for the past 10 years I have been writing songs for numerous platinum recording artists all over the world. After being behind the scenes that long, I feel that I have grown and matured enough to step up front and use my skills to launch my own career. I had an awesome experience working with Julia. She has really helped me sharpen my skills to prepare for my single release “Pull The Plug”. I have now expanded my vocal range abilities, thanks to Julia I can hit almost every key on the piano…I know this was an important part of my journey, and I will be forever grateful…” –Sharice Styles

Michael McKinley and David Gibson wrote and produced this film for CNN Presents in 2005. It won a Gracie Award as the outstanding mid-length documentary aired in the US, from the Alliance for Women in Media. In it, we look at two young women in 1st century Israel, and how one Mary became the mother of God and the other, Mary Magdalene, one of the most mysterious women in history.

It’s a dangerous, tumultuous time in the Roman Empire. There are wars and rebellions among the empire’s client-states, and the emperors are becoming increasing brutal in suppressing any hint of revolution. That spells trouble for the restive Jewish nation on the eastern edge of the empire. There are would-be messiahs and magic men all over Israel, many proclaiming a special connection to the God of Israel. For the Roman Empire, these men are not worth noticing. The Romans respect the Jews and their single god, Yahweh, and they’ve cut them quite a bit of slack. But when one prophet, Jesus of Nazareth upsets the powers that be by chasing out the money changers out of the Temple in Jerusalem—Judaism’s holiest site—he’s marked for death. more

Before Twitter, before 24-hour sports channels, long before fans watched highlight goals on their phones—long before something called a “highlight” had been invented—there was Hockey Night in Canada. It was cutting-edge technology back then. Anywhere in Canada, a hockey fan could come in from the snow, sit down by the radio, listen to a game played in Montreal or Toronto, and experience the thrill of a game played hundreds, or thousands, of kilometres away. Before all of what we call Canada had joined Confederation, even before the “Original Six,” there wasHockey Night in Canada to define both the country and the game.

Then, sixty years ago, another technological marvel changed the game—and the country—and launched the longest-running program in the world. CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada, for the first time, was on television.